Low bid regret

[Harford20]

I had just graduated from college, on to further schooling. My wife and I were just married, and I went to New York to meet some "family".

One of my wife's uncles was a card collector and a lawyer for the NFL. He knew I had a large 1970-1990 collection, and brought me to an office area where he had his collection. He had a massive collection, mainly focused on autographed jerseys, but with sets and singles of all eras, but was just starting to downsize it. The card he offered me was a T206 Honus Wagner (I had to assume it was genuine given his collection), and PSA was non-existent in 1990. The card was nearly complete, missing one corner. He had started looking for a buyer about 2-weeks prior without luck. He was asking $20k for the card, although he would go lower as I was "now family". I quickly thought of how much my entire collection was worth and if there was any way to come up with the money; my wife quickly laughed at me. Her uncle sold the card about 3 months later for $25k; one of the sales he regrets to this day.

Dave